By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
Fearless Fund, America’s first venture capital-firm (VC) has supported a local tech start-up, Agriguard, with a grant of GH¢20,000.00 after a successful pitching which resonated with the mission of the Co-founder of the fund, Arian Simone.
She offered this support to the company during her visit to MEST Africa where a pitching session for 14 tech start-ups was held. Ms. Simone also shared her knowledge about the venture capitalist (VC) space with the entrepreneurs.
Her engagement with MEST Africa forms part of her trip to Ghana, where a documentary is being filmed about her mission in Africa.
Commenting on the start-ups space in the country, she expressed her excitement about the great talent the sector possesses adding that “the start-up space in Ghana is more than what I expected. She also concluded that with the in-depth ideas and innovations of startups on the African continent, the world is in good hands.
“For the period that I have been here, the start-up space in Ghana is more than what I expected. I knew there were talent on the African continent and I also knew that some of our great tech entrepreneurs come out of here, but to be here physically and listen to pitches and hear all of th111¹¹1¹e innovation, I am excited. We are in good hands”, she noted.
With her assessment about the pitching session, Ms. Simone’s emphasised that the solutions presented by the startups are in their preliminary stages yet they are addressing problems that are needed.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Agriguard, Derek Addo, noted that his team is excited about the grant and plan to use the money for the second phase of their pilot program. Also, they intend to use it to facilitate access to finance for their small holder farmer network.
In response to what African start-ups need beyond access to finance she highlighted access to education, network, mentorship and the presence of resources for startups as other essential requirement to assist them to scale up.
“Apart from finance, just like even in America, there’s a lack of resources to the ecosystem as a whole. So it’s not just about money. There’s a lack of access to the education, network, mentorship and that is what we strive to make sure that all of those gaps are filled in every area,” she elaborated.
She applauded MEST Africa for their contributions towards the sector and called for more organisations who would offer skills, incubation as well as acceleration programs for start-ups.
Reacting to the ruling by a Florida appeals court against her grant program for Black Women, she noted that Americans have to be concerned about the ruling adding that “Africans built the great nation of the United States of America and to say that it would be illegal to fund black women in America is just horrific”.
She asked American not to be concerned about where the headquarters of the Fearless Fund would be located stressing that irrespective of their location, they will maintain their global mission in funding Europe, Africa, America and everywhere.
“America needs to be concerned about the ruling in general. The fact that that would even take place just sounds inhumane. African’s built the great nation of the United States of America and to say that it would be illegal to fund black women in America is just horrific. Should they be concerned about us getting up to take up shop and be somewhere else? I don’t think they should be concerned.
The mission will stay the same. We have a global mission. So wherever the company is based, we’ll still fund America, Africa, Europe. We’ll still fund everywhere. So no one has to be concerned about where the headquarters are. The funding will still take place,” she assured.
Ms. Simone started Fearless Fund in 2018 and was founded by women of colour to invest exclusively in tech and consumer-goods companies owned by women of colour.
